Mediasat to market sat services in cooperation with €ircon

Eurorunner

SES ASTRA Expands Satellite Broadband to New Territories; New Broadband Service Providers to Target Hungary, Poland, Ireland, Czech Republic and Algeria

"MediaSatellite Ltd, a service provider for one and two-way satellite network services will market satellite broadband services to end-consumers in cooperation with Irish telecom operator Eircom."

Article

No details on the Mediasat Website yet...

Paddy20

Well damn it too hell. This would be great News, but for the fact that €IRCON! are involved. Thereby making it an absolute NO,NO, for me, and I am sure many other Ex-Customers of the *RAT!.

P.

Nuphor

It comes as no suprise then that Eircom made a deal with easily the most expensive 2-way satellite provider in Ireland. Both suffer from ludicrously bloated prices.

The service being muted is one-way however. I think I'll stick to Silvermead, or possibly this crowd, who are even cheaper.

http://www.cpsat.co.uk/

Paddy20

Nuphor,

Nice one. Many thanks, you have just made my DAY!

P.;)

Nuphor

But, I, err, thought you hated me?

If you've got a Sky Dish, you're sorted though.

Paddy20

Nuphor,

Life is much too short for me to waste my time hating anyone!, and that even includes you!.

I do have a SkyDish.

Many thanks again.

P.;)

Capt'n Midnight

Well Eircom have already killed off one-way satellite
(you have to pay so much for the return path via modem it isn't viable)

Just one question - who will be providing support - will you have to ring an eircom muppet or will it be a call to a foreign country disguised as a 1550 number ??

Imagine the sales calls
"Since we have no intention of providing you with broadband or any form of fixed cost internet access* in the foreseeeable future don't you feel forced to buy another service off us..."


When you live in an area where you can't get DSL ,satellite looks like an option and Fairs, Fairs other Telco's like BT do satellite and yes if you live on a small Island off the coast of scotland miles and miles from a decent exchange then the telco is providing the best viable alternative. - but when it's a suburb of the largest city of a country claiming to be an e-hub and you are within DSL distance of Park West, City West, HP,Intel and other major e-commerce centres it's a sick joke.

To me this is Eircom's way of telling remote areas that they will NEVER get BB by copper since there is no need for it because Eircom already offer a suitable product in your area.

I can see the headlines
"Eircom can has Broadband enabled 1,500,000 customers..."

Eurorunner

Originally posted by Nuphor
It comes as no suprise then that Eircom made a deal with easily the most expensive 2-way satellite provider in Ireland. Both suffer from ludicrously bloated prices.

The service being muted is one-way however. I think I'll stick to Silvermead, or possibly this crowd, who are even cheaper.

http://www.cpsat.co.uk/

Nuphor,

Can you give us the latest update on Silvermead ref. performance?
Also, is there anyone out there who has signed up with Central Point?

I seem to be always considering taking the plunge as regards satellite but it seems to be just not good enough yet (price/performance).

Nuphor

Silvermead had a dodgy spell up until two weeks ago when their new transponder went live. People are now getting maxed out speeds pretty much all the time, and it's working really great.

While it is now capped (as are all Satellite BB services which operate through Plenexis), the caps are quite reasonable. 5.5 gigs for 512k a month, and 9 gigs for one meg.

CPSat resell the same Plenexis service and use the same UK transponder which can be picked up easily, even with a mini-dish. The service should be the same, but as of yet, I've not found anyone who uses them

If I get good feedback, I may well make the switch. I'll keep ya posted.

cpsat

Hi,

It was suggested that we contribute to this forum, we being Central Point www.cpsat.co.uk

I wanted to point out that satellite service is no different to any other Plenexis Skybooster reseller, it is the same service, we do not pretend it is our because it isn't.

We simply have the knowledge and experience of being a business only ISP, providing services since early 1996.

Due to our location we have many clients that would like broadband and cannot get it, we have clients that have had two way satellite and this has proved unreliable.

We have been looking for something to fill the gap, we have trialling the Skybooster system for months now and are happy with its performance, in our opinion it’s the best that’s out there without spending thousands

The service you get from any of the Plenexis resellers is exactly the same, the service you receive from staff, costs and how we operate is where things will differ.

If you want to clarify anything with Plenexis then please do.

If you have any questions you want me to answer then ask away.

Thanks

Darren

spongebob

Originally posted by cpsat

If you have any questions you want me to answer then ask away.

Darren

That was quick.

4 Points Darren seeing as you are the sole poster from a one way sat provider in here that I know of (oh....and welcome) .

1. Ireland has far more sky digital dishes than the UK (relatively) so there will be interest in anything around 28 East. Where is your sat

2. Would you charge UK vat which is cheaper than Irish vat

3. Would you be business only in Ireland too?

4. Would you have an interest in reselling a FRIACO product and bundling it with your product so there is only one poit of contact?

M

Nuphor

Originally posted by Muck
That was quick.

4 Points Darren seeing as you are the sole poster from a one way sat provider in here that I know of (oh....and welcome) .

1. Ireland has far more sky digital dishes than the UK (relatively) so there will be interest in anything around 28 East. Where is your sat

2. Would you charge UK vat which is cheaper than Irish vat

3. Would you be business only in Ireland too?

4. Would you have an interest in reselling a FRIACO product and bundling it with your product so there is only one poit of contact?

M

I can answer some of these. Well, one of them.

Their sat is on Eurobird 1, at 28.2 E. Their service uses a beam pointed at the UK, which is used by several Sky Digital stations. (Channel U comes to mind). Same bird and transponder as Silvermead.

cpsat

Originally posted by Muck
That was quick.

4 Points Darren seeing as you are the sole poster from a one way sat provider in here that I know of (oh....and welcome) .

1. Ireland has far more sky digital dishes than the UK (relatively) so there will be interest in anything around 28 East. Where is your sat

2. Would you charge UK vat which is cheaper than Irish vat

3. Would you be business only in Ireland too?

4. Would you have an interest in reselling a FRIACO product and bundling it with your product so there is only one poit of contact?

M

Hi,

1, Yes if you can get sky then you need no realignment, as Nuphor pointed out.

2, I will have to check with the account or FD about this, I will get back to you.

3. No in Ireland we would not be business only, this is true for Satellite services.

4, We do have FRIACO products, 160, 180 and unlimited hours.

As we are used to dealing with businesses we can normally bundle things together to fit a particular requirment. Again I will check this out and get some prices for you if you are interested ?

Darren

Eurorunner

Originally posted by cpsat


4, We do have FRIACO products, 160, 180 and unlimited hours.

Darren

Darren,

Are you certain that you can offer FRIACO in the Rep. of Ireland .. - cos if so, prices please for the options you mentioned ie. 160/180/unlimited.

cpsat

I will check this, I have looked at our databse and we do not have any currently so maybe there is an issue.

Do you have BT or NTL lines available ?

Regards,

Darren

spongebob

No

You must resell the Eircom FRIACO here . The one thing going for you is the profusion of SKY dishes over here.

M

Nuphor

Silvermead use the same transponder (I'm with them currently) but they're slightly dearer.

I significantly doubt they offer FRIACO over here

cpsat

Originally posted by Muck
That was quick.

2. Would you charge UK vat which is cheaper than Irish vat

4. Would you have an interest in reselling a FRIACO product and bundling it with your product so there is only one poit of contact?

M

Hi again,

I have checked with the accounts and we would charge UK VAT.

We have also contacted Eircom to see if we can get a FRIACO offering, no promises but we are trying.

Thanks

Darren

Nuphor

Wow. A package deal with Satellite and FRIACO would be pretty cool.

spongebob

As the 2 way sat providers in Ireland seem to charge €120 (incl Irish Vat) for around 1Gb a month and 512/128 you could find yourself a nice niche at around 5Gb , 512/64 , and €59.99 a month including Vat (UK rate) and 180 hours Friaco.

You could contact UTV Internet about their FRIACO maybe, http://u.tv/ with a view to reselling it as part of a bundle. Apart from being a highly reputable ISP (if not the most reputable) they also have the ITV franchise in NI.

HTH

M

Nuphor

While I agree that UTV are by far Ireland's most competant ISP, I'd hate to get tied into their telephony package, no matter how good it is

Eurorunner

€59.99 a month including Vat (UK rate) and 180 hours Friaco.

given my current options, i would go for this - but find it hard to justify going above this price range.

Darren: Just to give you a heads up, your unlikely to get much cooperation from Eircom - your setup doesnt really go along with their interests - especially now that they've got some sort of arrangement going with another sat. broadband operator (mediasat).

The way FRIACO is setup here, it wouldnt be feasible for you to do friaco yourself as can be confirmed here

What Muck is suggesting (with UTV) is probably your only option. The only other FRIACO operator over here is ESAT - i'm not sure what their level of interest would be in this case....

skycards

I have been using Direcway ( from bentleywalker.com ) it costs about €90 a month . 512 down and 128 up . They did cap downloads about 6 months ago but you can get around that. Only problem is you have to shell out for the usb modems at the start.

cpsat

Thanks for the information.

Eircom have so far not even replied to our email.

I will ensure that UTV are contacted today and keep you updated.

Thanks

Darren

Nuphor

Cheers CPSat. That'd really help ye get a lot of customers here.

Paddy20

Nuphor,

Totally agree with you there. Now I just wish I knew how to post a link to the U.TV Thread. It certainly must have been of great benefit to them, and as a spin off, Irish Internet users , IOFFL members and others are now reaping the rewards.

I feel that CPSat, would find a lot of it very enlightening!.

P.;)

cpsat

Hi,

Just to keep you informed, the response from people in Ireland interested in the service has been very good, trying to get some agreement and cooporation from companies to allow a suitable FRIACO product to work with it has been, and continues to be, an interesting experiance.

We are still working on it.

Darren

spongebob

Eircom will piss you around royally, they make BT look open and enlightened . You may even need a (cheap) basic telecomms licence before they will talk to you . These are available from Comreg which is our Oftel.

You could also talk to regional ISP's such as ANU who are thinking of a Friaco product I hear.

M

cpsat

I think you have solved a problem for us !

Thanks

spongebob

I would help with the trials <cough>

Nuphor

Nice to see a satellite ISP interacting on boards and getting stuff done...

Eurorunner

trying to get some agreement and cooporation from companies to allow a suitable FRIACO product to work with it has been, and continues to be, an interesting experiance.

Welcome to the wonderful world of the Irish telecoms industry Darren:D
I bet there are other words apart from 'interesting' which sprang to mind;)

I hope this works out for you...if it does, you could very well see many boards members sign up. If it doesnt, dont hesitate to come back to the boards and dish the dirt if you've been badly treated by any of these telcos.

cpsat

I hope this works out for you...if it does, you could very well see many boards members sign up. If it doesnt, dont hesitate to come back to the boards and dish the dirt if you've been badly treated by any of these telcos.

I will keep you updated for sure.

I don't think things are going to happen overnight, however we dont give up easily !

cpsat

Originally posted by Muck
I would help with the trials <cough>

I know that was probably tongue in cheek but we will need people to trial any systems.

Don’t worry, we will post here

Nuphor

I'd gladly test. All the equipment needed is already in place here

Eurorunner

I'd gladly test. All the equipment needed is already in place here

Ditto:D

spongebob

Originally posted by cpsat
I know that was probably tongue in cheek but we will need people to trial any systems.

yes, but I am a genius .... unlike the rest of the wannabe trialees and nor am I in Tuam. Tuam of the high noise floor !

M

Eurorunner

yes, but I am a genius .... unlike the rest of the wannabe trialees and nor am I in Tuam. Tuam of the high noise floor !

Steady on there Muck:D

Nuphor

Lol. Say, you ever used SatBB before Muck?

cpsat

Amusing banter

Just to let you know we do have criteria for testers and we need different skill levels, experiances, locations, operating systems, usage patterns etc.

IF things go according to plan then we will post here with where you can get details of applying.

Things are moving, just very slowly :rolleyes:

Nuphor

Eircom LOVES dragging it's heels. If Eircom was a person, it'd leave a trail of leather in it's wake.

spongebob

Originally posted by cpsat
Just to let you know we do have criteria for testers and we need different skill levels, experiances, locations, operating systems, usage patterns etc.

I can supply all of the above personally !

M

Nuphor

You lie. How in the hell could you be a novice, and advanced beginner and an expert in computing, all at the same time. Answer me that, smarty man.

There's a bucket load of people here who'd gladly take your trial and your arm

spongebob

You'd be amazed at my simultaneous multiprocessing abilities Nuphor, I have all the above under the one roof here. Us culchies live in big houses

M

Nuphor

Originally posted by Muck
You'd be amazed at my simultaneous multiprocessing abilities Nuphor, I have all the above under the one roof here. Us culchies live in big houses

M

That we do. And nearly all of us have Sky Digital, rather than subjecting ourselves to RTE.

I had to go back to dialup for an hour today; never again. SatBB all the way. It's a neat product for rural users. And it's just about affordable.

Stonemason

Id like to trial your service too.The thing is a good m8 of mine also happens to be a sky sat installer im sure if you need someone in the north Tipperary/offaly area for testing and also an agent to go out and get people connected to your service let me know.

IrishMike

Few questions for an idiot i.e. me

1. This service is not live yet and wont be for a while ?

2. It is only one way and so would still require a dial up connection 4 upload ?

3. There is no approx price as of yet ?

4. It will be available country wide ?

Thanks for the info

PS potential trialist here also

cpsat

Hi,

Yes it is live but we are trying to get a suitble product for your market.

Yes it will still require a dial up.

Prices are on our website: www.cpsat.co.uk

Yes it wiill be available country wide.

Hope this helps

skycards

As I already have 2 way sat connection but could I use your 1 way service and use my return by satellite instead of phone line .
Just wondering if that's possible?

cpsat

I can see no reason why not, it just needs an upload path.

Eurorunner

Mediasat have updated their website


They are now offering products that incorporate friaco - although their low end product isnt priced yet...

However, i doubt very much it will be of interest to any of us because the said low end product (SOHO) has a download limit of...


a whopping 250MB.....i kid u not:mad: